Photo: Daniele Venturelli/Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images
English actress Julia Ormond is suing Harvey Weinstein for sexual harassment and is suing CAA, Miramax and its parent company Disney as negligent parties, Variety reports. In the lawsuit, filed Oct. 4 in New York Supreme Court, the “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” actress claims the incident occurred after a business dinner in 1995 when “Weinstein refused to do business to discuss matters and the topic was constantly changing.” He insisted that he would only talk at her apartment about an upcoming project that had been provided to her by Miramax. She had had several drinks and agreed that they could discuss the project in her apartment. “Soon after, Weinstein stripped naked and forced her to perform oral sex on him.” At the time, Ormond was best known for his starring roles in Hollywood films such as “Legends of the Fall” and “Sabrina.”
Ormond’s lawsuit holds CAA liable for failing to protect her client from a dangerous situation, alleging that her agents Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane encouraged her not to contact authorities, go public or even trying to seek a settlement by saying, “That’s what she would not be believed” and “She should not expect to receive more than $100,000, which in her opinion was apparently the going rate for sexual Assault by Harvey Weinstein.” The lawsuit alleges that her career was already damaged because after she reported the assault to CAA, Miramax terminated her contract with her, CAA neglected her, and “her career suffered dramatically.”
In the decades since the alleged assault and the aftermath, Ormond has worked primarily on television in a variety of smaller roles, a downgrade from the supposed trajectory she took in the 1990s. Still, she has managed to shine in a number of projects, earning a Guest Actress Emmy nomination for her role as Megan Draper’s mother in Mad Men and winning a Supporting Actress Emmy for the HBO television film Temple Grandin.”
In a statement shared by her lawyers, Ormond explains that she is finally bringing this lawsuit after “decades of living with the painful memories of my experiences at the hands of Harvey Weinstein,” due in part to the dozens of women who have testified against her He has been in the media and in court since 2017. Weinstein, 71, is currently serving a combined sentence of 39 years: 23 years in New York for rape and sexual assault, as convicted in 2020, and another 16 years in a separate case, sentenced by a judge in February of this year Los Angeles. “Your courage and the Adult Survivors Act have provided me with an opportunity and a path to shed light on how powerful people and institutions like my talent agents at CAA, Miramax and Disney enabled and provided cover for Weinstein to attack me and countless others. “” She says. “I aim for a degree of personal seclusion, holding them accountable to acknowledge their part and the extent of the harm, and hope that our increasing understanding will lead to further protective measures for all of us at work will lead.”